Life after death
by sumrandomperson
Summary: The night she dies, Lily thinks she will never see Harry or James again. But what happens when Lily and James come back, years after Voldemort's defeat, not remembering a single thing about it? Even their son?
1. Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

"Come on, Harry, open up for the train. Choo-choo," I said, bringing a spoon up to my son's mouth.

"Choo-choo!" He laughed. I put the spoon in his mouth and watched him swallow.

"That's it, Harry, choo-choo!" My husband, James, watched me amusedly, picking at his own dinner. He had messy black hair, and hazel eyes behind black-framed glasses. I had long red hair and emerald eyes which I hadn't ever seen on anybody else except my mother, and now, Harry. He had inherited his father's untamable hair and my eyes. Harry had been named after his grandfather, Harold A. Potter. He had died back when we were still at Hogwarts, as had James' mother and my parents. The only people left from my side of the family were my sister, Petunia Dursley (formerly Evans), her husband, Vernon Dursley, and their son, Dudley Dursley. Where they came up with that name, I can't say. All three of them are horrible; Petunia and Vernon hate magic and anything to do with it, which includes James, Harry, and I. There is nobody left from James' family, unless you count Sirius Black who is like a brother to him.

I remember when I first met James and Sirius. It was when I was eleven, on the scarlet train called the Hogwarts Express. I was searching for a compartment and everything was full, so I asked them if I could share with them and they had let me. We had great fun playing all sorts of magical games and they explained all about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World to me. We became friends.

We remained friends all through first year, but in third year James asked me out. I turned him down because I thought he would play me like a bunch of other girls. After that it had become awkward whenever I would be near him. Our little group (which now contained Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew) split apart, but luckily I had a group of girls I made fast friends with.

In fourth year, James asked me out again. I said no, like the last time. But now he was asking me out all the time. I would always say no to him. Over the summer he had turned arrogant and self-centered, in my eyes at least. He would always ruffle his hair to look cool, and he would play with a Snitch (he had made Seeker on the Gryffindor Team). Everyone would think he was awesome, and he was always surrounded by girls, but it just disgusted me. He, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were the most popular kids in the school. They were called the Marauders. James and Sirius were the leaders.

I was considered the cleverest witch in my year. I was the top in every class, except Potions (which Severus Snape beat me at) and Transfiguration (which the Marauders beat me at). Being the smartest witch of my age was most likely the reason I figured out Remus' secret. I often wondered how it had happened to him but, after I told him I knew, I never wanted to bring it up again. To this day, I remember our conversation.

**Flashback…**

"_Remus," I said, cornering him. It was two days after the full moon, and he was walking to Charms. I had noticed scratches on his face._

"_Yeah?" he asked. He and I were friends._

"_I – I need to talk to you."_

"_About what?"_

"_Where you go every full moon." He paled. "I know, Remus. You don't have to pretend around me. Don't worry, I'll still be friends with you and I promise I won't tell anyone." But he still seemed reluctant to admit it._

"_What are you talking about?" he asked. "My mother is sick. Once a month, Dumbledore lets me visit her."_

"_So she's been sick for four years? And, if she has, how come you only visit her most months? There're times when you are here all month. And another thing, you only visit her on full moons. How come?" I could see him desperately searching for an answer. Finally he sighed._

"_All right, fine. You're right. I am a werewolf," he whispered._

**End flashback…**

From that day on, we grew closer. I knew that James, Sirius, and Peter knew about Remus being a werewolf too. Remus told me. He even said they were doing something to help him with it, but he couldn't say what. It wasn't until James and I got married that I found out about it.

Our fifth year was much like the fourth, but I found that Sirius, James, and Peter would start disappearing at the same time as Remus did. I was worried they were doing something stupid and would get hurt.

One night I was walking on the grounds, even though it was the full moon. Remus told me he went to the Shrieking Shack to transform, so I wasn't worried. Until I heard a growling behind me. When I turned around, there was a wolf standing behind me, and I could tell it was a werewolf. I knew that if I ran it would catch me, so my best bet was to stay still. But then it started advancing and I had no choice but to run. I heard it start chasing me and thought I had no chance…except suddenly I heard hooves and barking and a yelp. When I looked back around a beautiful white stag and a big black dog were trying to get the wolf away from me. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. I saw the wolf cut scratches into the stag's side and across the dog's face. I wanted to help but I couldn't so I ran away.

The next day at dinner, a scratch started to appear on Sirius' face. Apparently, he had used a charm to cover it up but it stopped working. The scratch was identical to the dog's. And when James pulled off his sweater in the common room, his shirt came up and I saw a large gash on his side. It was identical to the stag's. That's when I started suspecting something. I confronted Remus about it.

**Flashback…**

"_Remus!" I called. He turned around._

"_What?"_

"_I need to talk to you! Last night I was walking on the grounds, and I saw you behind me. No, don't worry, you didn't hurt me," I said, seeing the look on his face. "But a stag and a dog tried to keep you away from me and you scratched the dog across the face and the stag on its side. Tonight I saw a scratch identical to the dog's on Sirius' face and one the same as the stag's on James' side. What's going on?"_

"_Nothing. It must be a coincidence. Maybe they got in a fight or something," Remus said quickly. Before I had a chance to reply, he hurried off._

**End flashback…**

I had forgotten about it after a while.

In sixth year James kept trying to ask me out, but I would always say no. It had gotten to the point that, if I saw him coming up to me, I would automatically say no, even if he didn't say anything.

In seventh year, I was made Head Girl. When I walked into the Heads' Compartment on the train, I got the biggest shock of my life. James was sitting there. I thought he was substituting for Remus for some reason until Dumbledore announced the new Heads. Around Christmas time, we had a ball. There was a singing contest and when the winners were announced, James didn't say "Oh, it's obviously going to be us. I mean, with _me_ singing, how could it not be?" or something, like he would have usually done. Instead he accepted his prize (they won) like anyone else would. That's when I noticed he hadn't asked me out all year. Until the Christmas ball, when I decided to give him a chance, as he had changed very much. James and I were together for the rest of the year, and it was the best year at Hogwarts I'd had, even though I was sad to leave.

Then we had some silly argument; I can't even remember why. We broke up and went our separate ways. James became the Seeker for the England Quidditch Team and I was a Healer at St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital. We both had had Auror training, as backup. My friends took me to a game once, three years after we left Hogwarts. I had forgotten James was on the team and was fascinated at how well the Seeker was flying. I couldn't recognize him; he had gotten stronger, his hair was still messy, but not as much and he was a little taller. I don't know why I didn't recognize him.

After the game we joined the line of people (mostly women) hoping for an autograph from the Seeker. He didn't even look up as I approached.

**Flashback…**

_As I walked away from him, I looked at the signature. I could barely read it, but I could make out the words._

"_James Potter?" I shouted. Luckily, we were far enough away by then for him not to hear me. I couldn't face him yet._

_In a week, I was at the hospital when a man was brought in on a stretcher. He was wearing Quidditch robes and his head and right arm were bandaged. I recognized him this time. It was an unconscious James. Apparently, the Beater from the other team had hit a Bludger right when James caught the Snitch. The Bludger broke his arm and broom. He had fallen off the half of his broom that was left and landed on his head. He had a severe concussion and was lucky he hadn't broken his neck. He was in a coma for a couple of weeks. When he woke up, I could tell he didn't recognize me either because his eyes widened when he saw my name tag, not my face._

"_Lily Evans?" I nodded. _

"_You've suffered a really bad concussion, Mr. Potter. Lie still while I fix it." After I had done so, he propped himself up on his elbows (his arm had been mended). We talked for a while and soon he was ready to leave. _

_Once he had changed into normal clothes, he turned back to me._

"_Lily?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Do you want to have dinner tonight? You know, to catch up?"_

**End Flashback…**

Six months later, we were married. I became Lily Potter, instead of Lily Evans. Nine months after that, we were blessed with Harry. We were perfectly happy, until Dumbledore called us to Hogwarts, for a meeting of the Order of Phoenix. It is an organization to defeat Voldemort. James and I were able to join, having had Auror training. Dumbledore told us about a prophecy. It stated that Harry was either to kill Voldemort…or be killed by him. We were hardly consoled by the fact that it could be Neville Longbottom, son of Frank and Alice Longbottom, fellow Order members. He was born on the same day as Harry, and his parents, like James and I, had defied Voldemort three times.

We had to choose a Secret-Keeper. After much debating (James wanted Sirius and I wanted my best friend, Alicia) we decided Peter would be the Secret-Keeper. He was the least obvious choice and we trusted him.

I reflected upon this as I picked up the now empty can of baby food and threw it away. I wiped Harry's mouth and gave him his bottle. He drank it all and was almost falling asleep right in his high chair. I was carrying the bottle to the sink when I heard a strange noise at the door. Suddenly I heard it blast open. I looked at James. He looked terrified. He stood up and opened the kitchen door a crack. Suddenly he grew pale.

I heard footsteps advancing towards the kitchen.

"Come out, come out," said a chilling voice. I knew who it was. "Bring little Harry out, and your lives shall be spared."

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-" James yelled. I shook my head.

"I can't!"

"Do it! Do it for Harry!" For a split second I hesitated, but then nodded. With tear-filled eyes, I picked up Harry and gave James a kiss. I knew I'd never see him again. I stumbled up the stairs and heard the door to the kitchen blast open too.

"Mr. Potter," said Voldemort. "Stand aside."

"No! You won't hurt Lily or Harry. I won't let you!" I heard James send a curse at Voldemort, but I knew it didn't work. Voldemort laughed.

"It's too bad you're so stubborn. On the one hand, it got you your wife. But it also lost you your life. Goodbye, Mr. Potter. _Avada Kedavra!_"

"No!" shouted James. I heard the sound of glass shattering and knew he had dodged the curse. With hope in my heart, I stood on the landing. Voldemort growled.

"_Crucio!" _he said. I heard James scream. I wanted to help him but I couldn't leave Harry. Finally, the screaming stopped. I could hear James breathing heavily.

"_Crucio!" _he shouted in turn. Nothing happened.

"I must admit, you put up a good fight, Mr. Potter," said Voldemort. "However, as much as I'd love to stay here and duel properly, I really have no more time to waste. _Avada Kedavra._" This time I heard a soft _thump_. Tears were starting to pour from my eyes, but I heard footsteps on the stairs.

I ran into the nursery and tried to Disapparate, but there was some sort of spell on the house that wouldn't let me. Voldemort was getting nearer. I saw the door handle turning. The door opened and Voldemort stepped inside. He was in a long black cloak and his face had a malicious smile on it. His red and cruel eyes were gleaming. "Mrs. Potter. Please, move aside." I was standing in front of the crib Harry was lying in.

"No! Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything -"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

"No! I'll never let you have him!"

"You are stubborn as well. Do you want to end up like your husband? Like this?" he waved his wand. An image appeared in the air. It was James. He was lying on the floor, his glasses askew and his eyes opened wide.

I started crying again. Harry was wailing.

"Now, let me have him!"

"No! No matter what you do or say, I will not let you kill my son!" Voldemort's eyes were angry. I knew what was coming next.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" he shouted. The last sound I heard was my son's crying as his killer advanced on him. Then everything was black, and I knew no more.

* * *

Please review and tell me if you liked it! I really want to know what people think. This was originally a one-shot but I decided to continue it. I have the first five chapters written already. 


	2. Wizard

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

"Boy! Get up!" A piercing shriek woke me up. I rolled over on my side and continued to sleep. "Up! Now!" My aunt wrapped on the door. My eyes shot open but closed almost immediately. I hadn't gotten much sleep that night. I kept getting weird dreams. People lying on the floor and a baby crying.

Finally I heard my uncle's heavy footsteps.

"BOY! GET UP NOW!" he yelled. This time my eyes didn't close again.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," I said. I fumbled around in the dark for my glasses. Sometimes I wonder why my aunt and uncle bothered to get me glasses. They seem to hate me so much. I remember one time I called my aunt "mommy" by accident. I was three years old. I seriously thought she was going to hurt me. But I hadn't known any better. I lived with my aunt and uncle since I was one. What did they expect?

I stood up, squatting, and opened the door. My eyes took a while to get used to the light. Most kids, like my cousin Dudley for example, probably have to get used to the light when they wake up in their room. But there wasn't much light in the cupboard under the stairs where I slept.

My name is Harry Potter. I live with my aunt, uncle, and cousin because my parents died when I was one year old. They died in a car crash. I have black hair and green eyes. My relatives hate my hair, but no matter how they get it cut and jelled down it is always back to normal the next morning. There's really nothing special to my features, except for a lightning-shaped scar on my forehead. My aunt and uncle say it's from the car crash, but I don't believe them. When I try really hard I can hear laughter and screaming and I see a green light. I don't know if it has to do with my parents' deaths, but I think it does. I'm seven years old, like my cousin. The parents of other kids at my school always say I'm much more mature than other seven year olds.

I walked down the hall towards the kitchen. When I entered, the first thing I noticed was the snow falling outside. Big glass doors led onto the patio, and all of the furniture was covered in a blanket of glistening white.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! The bacon is burning!" Aunt Petunia, a thin, blond woman with a horse-like face, yelled at me. She, my uncle, and my cousin were seated around the table with cups of coffee or milk. Uncle Vernon was a big, beefy man. He had a bushy mustache and a slightly purple face. My cousin, Dudley, was the same build as his father. He had dirty blond hair and little blue eyes. He had two chins and disgusting eating habits.

I ran to the stove and tried in vain to keep the bacon from burning. Unfortunately, it was black and crisp so I had to throw it away and make more. When the bacon was almost done, I cracked six eggs into two frying pans. My uncle liked to have three, my aunt would have one, and Dudley would have two.

Soon breakfast was finished. I put the correct amount of food onto everyone's plates and served them. Only then was I able to make my own breakfast.

After breakfast, the phone rang. Thinking it might be someone she knew and liked, Aunt Petunia made me sit down and answered the phone herself.

"Hello? Mrs. Figg! How nice to hear from you," Aunt Petunia said while grimacing. Mrs. Figg was a cat lover and Aunt Petunia hated animals. I wonder why she kept Dudley then.

Every time the Dursleys', my aunt, uncle, and cousin, went somewhere they would send me to Mrs. Figg's. Her house smelled like cats and she made me watch the most boring shows on TV. She would also make me cake, but I swear she put cat food in it.

I watched Aunt Petunia intently, hoping to see some sign of disappointment (other than the disappointment of Mrs. Figg calling) which would mean I wouldn't be able to go to her house and the Dursleys would have to take me with them to the movies. I was the one who ended up being disappointed, however.

"What? Oh, yes, yes, I'll tell him. Good-bye." As Aunt Petunia put the phone back she turned to me and said "Mrs. Figg asked me to tell you that she's baked a cake all for you. 'He's all skin and bones. I'll make sure he eats the whole thing'," she mimicked. "Vernon! Dudley! It's time to go, the movie starts soon and we want to get good seats!" The stairs creaked and groaned as Uncle Vernon stomped down them and the couch squeaked as Dudley got up. "Get dressed, boy," said Aunt Petunia and swept from the room to find her coat.

I went to the cupboard and fished out a baggy sweater. All of my clothes were a couple of sizes too large as they used to belong to Dudley.

Soon we were all in the car. Uncle Vernon put it in drive and we zoomed up and down streets searching for Mrs. Figg's house. As soon as we found it, I was kicked out of the car and left to watch as they sped away. I walked up the steps to Mrs. Figg's door and ran the bell. The door opened immediately and I was face-to-face with Mrs. Figg.

"Hello, Harry. How are you?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Wonderful. Oh, come in, come in, I wouldn't want you to freeze! Unless you have natural insulation, like your father." I looked at the woman, surprised. What did she just say?

"Excuse me?" I asked. Mrs. Figg looked startled.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I baked you a cake!" And she was back to her usual, smiling self. But I could have sworn there was a look of…well, I don't know what it was. Could it have been love? Compassion? Pity? In any case, I still had a day full of cats, cake, and bad TV shows.

* * *

A week later, it was time for last minute Christmas shopping. Of course, I didn't have any money. I had painted a picture series at school and was planning to give it to my relatives. I knew they would just say how horrible it was and put it through the paper shredder, but I wanted to give someone something. All of the other Christmas-celebrating kids were all excited and painting things to give to their parents and I wanted to join in. I didn't have any friends I could give it to, so the Dursleys were my only option.

Knowing that, I hadn't exactly painted a couple of pretty pictures. They were pictures of a couple of my dreams put together.

The first one was of two men. One was in a black cloak. His eyes were red and he was holding a stick in his hand. It looked like a wand from one of my fairy tales. The other man had one too. He had black hair and glasses like mine. In fact, he looked exactly like me. Except I had made his eyes more of a hazel color.

The next picture was of a woman standing with a baby in her arms. She had red hair and the baby had hair like the second man. I decided she was his wife and the baby was his son.

The third picture was of the second man. The first man was gone now and the second was on the floor. The wand had rolled away and his glasses had fallen off.

The fourth was of the first man standing in a doorway with his wand pointed out. The red-haired woman was standing in front of a crib. The door was almost on the floor, so it looked like it had fallen. Maybe the red-eyed man had made it fall over.

The fifth picture was just all green. There were no shapes or anything, it was just green.

The sixth was of the woman lying on the floor. I knew she was dead, just like I knew her husband was dead. The red-eyed man was standing over the crib now and pointing his wand into it.

The seventh picture showed a green line between the crib and the man's chest.

The eighth, and last, picture showed the man lying on the ground next to the woman. His eyes, like the husband and wife's, were wide open, but it was more noticeable on his because they were red.

When the teacher came by, all I would show her were the first two. She told me I had incredible talent for a seven year old. I was almost never praised for anything, so that felt very good.

All of the details in the pictures were collected from lots and lots of dreams. I had a horrible feeling that they told the true story of how my parents died. The black-haired man was my father and the woman was my mother. I painted her eyes green, even though I never got that detail from the dreams. I just thought I had her eyes. I don't know why.

I really hoped it wasn't how they died. In any case, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's reactions would tell me all I needed to know.

The only reason my aunt and uncle brought me with them to the store was to keep Dudley occupied while they bought the last of his gifts. It took a while to convince him to go with me and then they gave me some money and sent us to a movie.

After the movie, we went back to the store and Aunt Petunia told us to get into the car because it was time to go. Dudley got in and I was stuffed in after him.

Soon it was Christmas. I doubt they would have woken me up at all if they hadn't wanted coffee to drink while opening presents. I had wrapped mine at Mrs. Figg's. It was a really strange evening.

**Flashback…**

"_Mrs. Figg, can I wrap my present at your house?" I asked as we walked back from grocery shopping. The Dursleys were at a dinner party._

"_Of course. I just bought some new wrapping paper!" When we reached the house she went down to the basement and got it. It was red with white and green cats on it. I guess it didn't look that bad. _

_I took the paintings out of my backpack and put them on the table._

"_Do you have a box I could put these in?" I asked._

"_I do. Let me just see them so I can figure out what size we need," she said and walked over. As soon as she saw the first one she grew very pale._

"_What's wrong?" I asked, hoping to steer her away from looking at the others. No such luck. When she saw the next one she went even whiter._

"_W-what are these? D-did you paint them?"_

"_Yeah." She looked at the next one_ _and dropped it with a shriek. "What?" I asked. "He's just sleeping! Don't worry. Yeah, he got really tired," I said, thinking as fast as I could. The next one brought on another scream and the one after that made her faint. "Mrs. Figg!" I rushed into the kitchen and got a glass of cold water. I poured it all over her face. She wouldn't stop looking at the pictures._

"_W-what are these?" she asked again._

"_Paintings."_

"_Why did you paint them?"_

"_I saw them in dreams."_

"_You did? Oh, you poor boy. Come here." She pulled me into a big hug. I was confused. What was going on? "Even though you saw them in dreams, why would you paint them?" she asked._

"_I'm giving them to the Dursleys. They'll help me find something out," I answered. She looked at me knowingly._

"_Good luck," was all she said and went to get a box._

**End flashback…**

As soon as the coffee was in my aunt and uncle's hands we went into the living room where the Christmas tree stood. It was as tall as could fit in the room and was decorated with all sorts of ornaments and colorful lights. 97 of the presents under it were for Dudley.

He had gotten everything he asked for. A computer, a playstation, a gameboy, a new boom box and all sorts of other things. I had gotten two old socks.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon opened my present last.

"What's this?" sniffed Aunt Petunia opening the box. Dudley stood over their shoulders also looking. Neither my aunt nor my uncle looked very affected by the first picture. The second one made my aunt and uncle go pale. Then Aunt Petunia had reactions exactly like Mrs. Figg's.

"What is this rubbish?" roared Uncle Vernon, but he was very pale too. I had gotten the answer I needed by the third picture. When Aunt Petunia saw a painting of her sister lying on the floor, dead, she fainted for the second time.

"These are some of the dreams I've been having," I answered calmly, but inside I was breaking down. Tears were already threatening to spill from my eyes. This was how my parents had died. I didn't understand what they really meant, or how they died, but I understood that they had been murdered. I knew there was no such thing as magic, but I still thought that's how they had died because of the sticks I was sure were wands.

"You-you've been dreaming this?" whispered Aunt Petunia.

"Yes. You know who those people are. I know you do. You know what's going on in those pictures. Tell me. I want to know too. They are my parents, after all," I said. Aunt Petunia stifled a scream.

"What are you on about?" said Uncle Vernon. "You're crazy! You're a freak! Just like your parents!" Suddenly he realized what he'd said.

"Right. You have to tell me now," I said. Dudley was just looking on in wonder. "What exactly made them freaks?"

"I won't tell you! We promised ourselves we'd squash it out of you and telling you would prove all of our years of torture to be in vain!"

"Tell me!" I screamed.

"No!" Uncle Vernon had gone from white to a dangerous shade of purple. "Go to your cupboard, boy! You've ruined our Christmas! Get out!"

"NO! YOU'LL TELL ME! I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU DO!" I erupted. Suddenly the room shook. The windows cracked and then shattered. My relatives screamed and threw themselves on the ground. I didn't even flinch. Somehow I knew it was me causing that, but I didn't know how.

"You're just like them! You're a freak, a useless little boy! You'd be dead if it wasn't for us and you make our lives hell!" bellowed Uncle Vernon.

"Shut up! Just shut up and tell me the truth!" I yelled, not caring that that didn't really make sense. I mean, how could they tell me the truth if they shut up? "What was different about my parents? How did they really die? Who was that other man?" Aunt Petunia opened her mouth but Uncle Vernon put a big, meaty hand over it.

"That's it! You're out of here!" He grabbed me by the neck of my sweater and pulled me through the halls. He opened the door and threw me out. I landed comfortably, but coldly, in a snow bank. Uncle Vernon threw out my coat, gloves, and hat behind me. Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurried to the hall way to see what he was doing.

"Vernon -?" Aunt Petunia said, putting a hand to her mouth.

"Stay away from our house and family! Stay away, and don't ever come back, wizard!" screamed Uncle Vernon and slammed the door shut.


	3. Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Lily's POV**

My eyes fluttered open. All I could see was darkness. I could tell I was inside of something but I didn't know what. Suddenly I felt a throbbing pain at the back of my head. I lifted my hand to reach up and feel it but there wasn't enough room. My hand struck a soft material. I felt around. It was everywhere. I tried to move my head but I couldn't and it was too narrow to shift over. I began to panic. Where was I? What had happened? I felt the outside of my pocket; thank God my wand was there. I somehow managed to get it out and muttered a spell. The top of whatever I was in – it seemed like a box of some sort – blasted open. I was immediately covered in dirt. I tried to stand up but the weight of the earth was too heavy. If I didn't get out soon I'd suffocate. I coughed a spell and the dirt came off me. Looking around – up, actually – I saw grass around me. There was an oak tree beside me. I pictured it and Apparated out of the hole.

I was in a grassy area with lots of trees. There were flowers in lots of places. Outside the fence that went around the grounds, it was snowy. I guessed that this was probably a magical place which Muggles couldn't see. I looked into the hole and nearly fainted. It was a coffin with the top off. I had been lying in a coffin! I had been buried! I frantically looked around. There were headstones all around me. Why hadn't I noticed them earlier? To my left was the closest one. I looked at it and screamed.

_James Harold Potter._

_1960-1981_

_Beloved husband and father_

_R.I.P_

"Oh my God. Oh my god. OH MY GOD! JAMES IS DEAD!" I yelled. I fell to my knees near his grave, sobbing. But suddenly I looked to my left. There was another gravestone there.

_Lily Marie Evans_

_1960-1981_

_Beloved wife and mother_

_R.I.P_

I screamed again. What was going on? I started panicking. Sweat poured down my face, despite the cool breeze, and I was breathing heavily. It took me a while to calm myself.

"Ok," I said. "Let's just examine what happened. I woke up in a coffin and found my husband's grave right next to mine and a headstone saying I died." Before I could go any further, a piece of wood flew up through the ground. I screamed and flung myself away. The wood had come out of James' grave. The dirt tumbled into the hole, but suddenly vanished. A ragged looking James appeared next to the oak tree. He looked at me in astonishment. I stared back at him.

"Why was I in a box in the ground…?" he asked. I pointed a shaky finger at the headstones. He cursed and stepped back as if he'd seen a monster. He turned back to me. I ran up and hugged him as tight as I could.

"I thought you were dead," I whispered into his shirt. I didn't care that he was covered in dirt.

"What's going on?" he asked me, putting his head on mine. "Did you wake up in a box too?"

"Yes. It's a coffin." He cursed again. Suddenly we heard the gravel crunching on the path. Someone was coming. James grabbed my hand and we hid behind the oak. James' and my graves were sort of in a secluded area, around a corner, so we'd know if they were coming to our graves.

As they neared the corner, we could hear their conversation.

"It's almost time; he'll be coming soon," said a man's voice. He sounded old. A woman's brisk voice answered.

"Four years isn't so soon."

"It depends on how you look at it. We want him to come, so the time will drag out. But we also fear him coming because we don't know what will happen when he does, so the time will fly by." I wondered what they were talking about. The woman was probably about to reply when they rounded the corner.

"Good lord, Albus! The graves!" she shouted. Albus looked and turned very white. I had never seen him so pale. His hair was longer, but other than that, my old headmaster hadn't changed at all.

"Minerva, alert the Ministry." She immediately DisApparated. The Ministry of Magic? Why were they being involved in this? I mean, you wouldn't involve the king or Prime Minister in the Muggle world. Soon the woman, Minerva, reappeared with a pop and many pops followed the Ministry officials. I couldn't believe this was McGonagall. She looked a lot older than I remembered. The officials were taking pictures of the graves and doing all sorts of tests.

It took about an hour for everyone to leave. I had a bad cramp and was glad to stand up and stretch it out.

"Why did people from the Ministry come?" I asked James. He frowned.

"I don't know. Something strange obviously happened. Let's go home and we'll figure it out."

* * *

We stood in front of an empty space. Our neighbors' houses were still there; just ours was missing. Well, not entirely. There _was_ a house there…but it wasn't ours. It was a different color and a different style. Only two rooms, one on either side of the house, looked like what we remembered.

"Something happened to us," said James. "Something bad happened; I can feel it."

"Let's go to the library. If it was something big they would have it. And if there was a reason like a fire or something that happened to our house, they'd have it in the local papers."

We Apparated to the library alleyway and walked inside. We had changed our hair and eyes just in case. I sat down at a computer and searched through the copies of the newspapers. James did the same next to me. Finally I gasped.

"I found something," I whispered. We looked at the picture. Our house was in ruins. I read the article to him quietly.

"'_November 1, 1981_

"'_The home of Lily and James Potter was found destroyed earlier this morning. The other residents of the neighborhood claim they hadn't heard anything during the night, such as an explosion that would cause such destruction. It couldn't have been a fire, as the bodies of Lily and James Potter were found, burn-free. Doctors say they have no idea what could have happened. It seemed as though their hearts had just stopped beating.'"_

I stopped reading. I couldn't go on. I turned to James and put my head on his shoulder. I started crying. He put his arms around me comfortingly. We stayed like that for a while before leaving the library.

I sometimes marvel at the fact that, if we had read the next two sentences, we would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble.

**James' POV**

I suggested to Lily that we go to the Ministry and ask about our deaths. In disguises, of course.

We Apparated into the reception room.

"We'd like to find out more about the deaths of Lily and James Potter," said Lily in a strained voice. The receptionist looked a little suspicious but led us into a room after confirming that it was ok. She pulled out a folder marked "Potter deaths." There was another folder next to it but I couldn't see the whole title; all I could see was the word  
"Potter."

Lily opened the folder. She flipped through a couple of papers.

"J – James," she stammered after a bit. I looked over. "It says we were m – murdered by V – Voldemort." I took the paper from her. She was right.

"Oh my God." We read more, but nothing else was useful. All we found it was we were murdered on Halloween.

As the woman came back to put the file away – still looking at us suspiciously – I asked her about the other one.

"What's that one about?" I asked, pointing at the file.

"Harry Potter," she said.

"Can we see it?" asked Lily.

"No," she snapped. "It's confidential." She escorted us out.

_Why did they have a file on my grandfather? He had died a while ago. _I voiced my thoughts.

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "Let's go to Diagon Alley. We could find some useful things there. And also, our robes look a little out of date compared with the others." It was true; everyone else's were slightly a different style.

Lily and I Apparated to Diagon Alley. A few people looked at us strangely. Probably because of our robes.

We walked down the crowded street to Madame Malkin's. I still remember going there as an eleven-year old, getting my Hogwarts robes.

"Er, hi," said Lily when Madame Malkin walked up. "We need some new robes…we've been in Muggle America for a couple of years." Madame Malkin bought it and showed us many different varieties of robes, including summer and winter robes.

Once we had enough, we paid with some money I had in my wallet. We walked out of the shop with our bags.

"How are we going to get money?" asked Lily. "We can't use our account."

"I have Sirius'. We'll say we're good friends of his and we'll pay him back later." I gasped. "Sirius! Why didn't we realize earlier? We have to find Remus, Sirius, and Peter!"

"Yeah! They'll know what to do! Or, Remus will, anyway," said Lily. I grinned and found Sirius' key. We tried to act normal and walked inside. I cleared my throat as we approached a goblin.

"Excuse me, could we take some money out of Sirius Black's account? We're close friends." The goblin looked suspicious and surprised and the man next to me suddenly turned and held out an auror badge.

"Stan Tristan, I need to take you to for questioning," he said and waved his wand. Suddenly there were handcuffs around our wrists.

"What? Why? We really are friends of his! He said we could take money any time we wanted! We were going to pay him back!" I said. The auror didn't say anything just grabbed us and Apparated to the Ministry. We were taken with him.

We arrived in a bustling room. People were running around muttering about grave robbers.

"Grave robbers?" I asked.

"Someone stole the bodies of Lily and James Potter," said Stan disgustedly. "Can't believe anyone would do such a thing."

"Were they in a magical graveyard?" I asked swallowing.

"Yes."

"Are there any suspects?"

"Probably Death Eaters. Most likely believe their bodies will bring You-Know-Who back."

"Death Eaters? Back? What do you mean, back?" Stan looked at me strangely.

"He was defeated seven years ago…"

"Oh, yeah," I said, trying to cover up for my slip up. "I just don't want him to be back. But why would they need our bod-" Lily put a hand on my arm. Luckily Stan hadn't noticed what I said. He led us through a couple more rooms but was stopped by a large hand. A big man in a vest stood in front of us.

"What's this, Stan?"

"Said they were close friends of Sirius Black. Wanted to take money out of his account," Stan said, gesturing at me and Lily.

"Oh, really? Well, I'd like to hear this." They both walked into a small room. All that was inside was a small table and a couple of chairs. Stan conjured another one for the man, who was apparently his boss.

"Now, what are your names?" asked Stan. He had a quill next to him which was ready to write by itself. Neither Lily nor I said anything. Stan folded his hands. "What are your names?" he asked again, more forcefully.

"Mitchell and Jennifer Porter," said Lily.

_Mitchell? _

The quill moved across the paper, scribbling down what she had said. She might have said it too quickly because it didn't look like Stan and his boss believed her.

"What was your business at Gringotts Wizard Bank today?"

"We were getting money," I answered.

"Why were you trying to get Sirius Black's money and not your own?"

"We've lost our key," I said, "and Sirius said we could take his money any time. You can ask him!"

"I don't think that will be necessary, or productive," said the boss, with a look at Stan.

"What?" They didn't answer me.

"Sirius Black's account hasn't been accessed in seven years. Did you just lose your key?" I found this surprising. Sirius wasn't using his account?

"Yeah."

"That's funny," said the boss suddenly, looking up from his papers.

"Why?" asked Lily.

"There is no account for Mitchell and Jennifer Porter," said the boss. Suddenly his face hardened. "_Expelliarmus!"_ he said. Three wands flew at him. He gave Stan back his. Then he stood up. _"Petrif-"_ but I beat him to it. I flew up and punched him in the face. It was difficult because of the handcuffs but I managed. Stan lunged for me but I whirled around and kicked him in the head. I hit the boss again and he flew towards the wall. (A/n: It's like that scene in the Bourne Supremacy where he's not saying anything and then suddenly he attacks the guys) Lily stared at me.

"Auror training. They teach you how to fight the Muggle way," I explained. I found our wands and we tried to Apparate, but it wasn't possible. We opened the door a crack and walked outside. We kept our hands hidden, but one of the aurors saw. He ran to the room and saw his colleagues lying on the ground, unconscious. He pulled out his wand, and so did a lot of others.

"Stop!" he shouted. I looked back and we began running. They caught us with a simple roping spell. They didn't know we had our wands, so they didn't take them away.

From the grave to Azkaban. It was hard to say which was worse. I think Azkaban because in the grave you don't even realize you're dead and buried. In Azkaban you feel miserable and you actually want to be dead. We weren't even in the prison yet but we already felt like that.

They had taken our hands out of the cuffs so we wouldn't spend eternity in them (dementors couldn't take them off). Right before they took us inside, we turned to face the crowd of aurors and simultaneously pulled out of wands. We started stunning everyone. They were bad stunning spells, and the stunned aurors would wake up soon after being hit.

Lily and I had no where to turn except for inside the castle. As soon as we entered, we were hit with a horrible coldness.

We ran down the halls. On both sides of us there were cells with prisoners inside, screaming for death. I had been here once before, but there was no way to be prepared for the terror of it all.

"Everyone was right. They all go insane," whispered Lily, horrified. She was shaking. I grabbed her hand.

"It's ok," I said even though I was pretty unstable myself.

We turned a corner. This was the maximum security section. Dementors 24/7. Lily and I got rid of them and kept going. I looked into the cells. They were no bigger than my closet at home. I mean my old home. The prisoners were in striped Azkaban clothes, most of them in ripped ones. Their hair was all tangled and they looked like they hadn't seen a bath in years. All around us they were wailing for mercy. Except for one. When we passed, I thought he was asleep, but then he stood up and looked out the tiny window. He seemed perfectly sane, or at least he wasn't screaming.

"James, let's go!" said Lily urgently tugging at my sleeve. I knew she was scared; I was too, but this guy interested me for some reason. Hearing her voice, he turned around. His hair was down to his elbows and was matted and greasy. His eyes were sunken and I could see his ribs through his baggy shirt. His face was brown with dirt. When he opened his mouth to speak, I saw perfectly straight but yellow teeth.

"W-who are you?" he rasped. Then he suddenly doubled over, coughing. It sounded like he barely every used his voice. When he stood back up, he came closer and asked again. Lily and I backed up. "W-what are you doing here? Dementors will be back," he said. He coughed again, but less this time. Seeing he wasn't going to get an answer he moved up to the bars. Lily and I moved back again, but hit the wall. This was a narrow corridor. The man was closer to us than we would have liked. "Aurors out there looking for you?" he asked pointing at the window. I nodded. "What'd you do?"

"We wanted to take money out of a friend's account," I said.

"They don't usually put you in Azkaban for that." He was having trouble with some words, but managed fairly well for someone who had had nobody to talk to for several years.

"Well, we tried to defend ourselves…" said Lily. The man gave a little bark of laughter. It sounded familiar…

"They might for that. Stupid gits." Lily laughed a little. I was looking at the man carefully. He reminded me of someone. No…it couldn't be!

"What the-? Sirius?" I screamed. Lily looked at me.

"What?" I ignored her. The man turned to me.

"Who are you?" he asked, less friendly than earlier.

"Oh my God! What did you do? How could they put you in here? That's what they meant when they said it wouldn't be productive…they thought you were insane! But you're not! Why not? Everyone else is and…oh my God, I'm so glad to see you!"

"What are you talking about, James?" Lily said.

"Who are you?" asked the prisoner, harshly.

"It's us! Lily and James!" Sirius paled under all the dirt.

"No, it can't be!"

"I know, we're supposed to be dead but…" I told him the whole story. Finally Lily gasped.

"It _is_ you!" she had been watching him while I was explaining. She waved her wand and out disguises came off.

"James…Lily…it's not possible."

"It's us!" I screamed. I wanted to hug him but I couldn't so I grabbed his hand and shook it.

"I can't believe they caught you. I thought James Potter was uncatchable," said Sirius, amusedly. He suddenly reminded me of the boy I had made friends with all those years ago. His eyes were more alive. I grinned.

"What did you do?" I asked. Suddenly his eyes faded again.

"Tried to get revenge."

"On who?" asked Lily.

"The man who sold you to Voldemort." I swallowed.

"Who was it?"

"Pettigrew," spat Sirius.

"P-Peter?" He nodded.

"I can't believe it! That little-" Lily cut me off.

"What happened?" she asked gently. I knew she was angry inside, but was trying to hide it.

"I cornered him on the street. Before I could do anything the bastard started shouting 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you? How could you betray them?'"

"Wait…you said _Peter_ betrayed us!" I exclaimed.

"He _did_," said Sirius. "I'm not finished. After he shouted that, he blasted the whole street apart, cut off his finger, turned into a rat, and ran off. He purposely made it so that I wasn't hurt. When the ministry people arrived, I was standing on the street with my wand out. Everyone assumed I had killed the twelve Muggles that got in the way and Peter. All they found of him was his finger. I heard them talking about it once. 'He didn't kill him, he destroyed him! All they ever found was his finger!' They also thought I had betrayed you because I was the most obvious choice for the Secret-Keeper."

"That's horrible," said Lily quietly.

"It's all my fault you died, though," said Sirius miserably.

"What? No, it's not! How can you say that?"

"If I hadn't convinced you to change to Peter…"

"Sirius, that's not your fault! It was our choice! And who would have thought that _Peter Pettigrew_ was a Death Eater?"

"That's why Voldemort chose him," I said. "But there was no way any of us could have known. Sirius, it was _not_ your fault. How can we make you believe us?" Before he could answer we heard yelling.

"Check the maximum security wing!"

"You have to go!" said Sirius urgently.

"But we can't just leave you here!"

"Don't worry about it!" he said. I rattled the bars but it was no use. I didn't have time to blast them open because the aurors were right around the corner. "Listen," whispered Sirius. "In one week, meet me at the edge of Hogsmeade, all right? The cottage. And bring some food!"

"How will you get there?"

"I might not, but be there anyway! Now, go!" We looked at him sadly but he waved us off. He was already assuming his previous position of lying on the bed. Lily and I looked at him one last time before running away.


	4. Dreaming and discovering

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Harry's POV**

_Wizard? He's completely lost it,_ I thought as I got up. I stood there for a while, wondering what to do next. My first thought was to bang on the door and beg to be let back in, but I knew there would be no point. I finally decided to make my way into the city and find some group of kids I could join. I suddenly realized how cold it was. I hurriedly pulled on my coat, hat, and gloves. I stepped onto the gravel walkway and started to walk away. I looked back at the house for one last time. Dudley's sneering face looked back at me before it was pulled away from the window and the curtains were pulled closed.

* * *

I don't know how much time had passed since my uncle had thrown me out. I had been walking for a long time. My hands were buried in my pockets and my teeth were chattering. My face was so cold it hurt.

I was walking past lots of houses. They had turned bigger and smaller. It was amazing how the houses in separate neighborhoods looked exactly the same as the other ones in that region.

I suddenly slipped on some ice. I whimpered as I fell painfully on my back. I tried to sit up but it hurt too much. I lay back down, panting.

_What am I going to do?_ I thought. _I can't even sit up!_

I think I lay there for about two hours. I'm not sure, though, since I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was dark. I slowly sat up. The pain was gone. I got on my feet and kept going.

* * *

I snuck into a garage and slept in someone's car that night. It was cold but warmer than outside.

In the morning, I was woken up when I felt the car vibrating. I opened my eyes and realized with horror that someone had started the car. Apparently they had one of those things you put on your keys which, when you clicked a button, started your car for you, even if you weren't in it, because there was no one inside except me. I slid off the seat onto the floor and made myself invisible by sliding halfway under the seat.

I heard someone humming as they walked towards the car. By the sound of their voice, I realized it was a man. He opened the passenger door and put something in the seat. Probably a briefcase.

"Jennifer!" he called. "Will you take the kids to practice today? I'm going to stay late for work!"

"All right!" said a woman's voice. "Have a good day!" He closed the passenger door and climbed into the driver's seat. He opened the garage and started to drive.

* * *

Soon he stopped the car. Judging by the noise outside, I figured that we were in the city. Perfect! It saved me about a day of walking.

The man got out of the car, got his briefcase, locked the doors, and left. I waited for about five minutes before struggling out from under the backseat. I hurriedly got out of the car and ran away from it.

Once I was a safe distance away, I looked around. I was standing in front of a big building. It had shiny windows and people were walking into it, carrying briefcases. The men were all in suits and the women were mostly in black skirts and blazers.

Next to the building there was a department store. I had seen a picture of it in the newspaper. It was going out of business and there were huge sales going on. The Dursleys had been going there all week.

I walked towards it. As I got closer, I noticed two people come nervously out of the alley between the store and the café next to it. They were a man and a woman. He had black hair and she had red hair. His hair was like mine….Suddenly she grabbed his arm and said something. They ran back into the alley.

I moved forward curiously. A minute later they came back out. The only way I knew it was them was that they had the same nervous air about them. Maybe even more nervous. But I was surprised. The man now had neat brown hair down to his shoulders and the woman had blond hair that went to her chin.

I went even closer. They started to move in the other direction. I noticed the man tucking something into his pocket. I followed them. They got into a cab and I sighed. I wouldn't be able to follow them anymore…but wait! The man in front of me had just dropped his wallet. I knew it was wrong but I picked it up and cleared it out. I felt really rich all of a sudden.

I got into my own cab. I could still see the man and woman's and asked the driver to follow. We stopped at King's Cross. They got out and entered the building. I couldn't see them anymore and we were stuck in traffic. I handed some money to the driver and just jumped out there. I started running towards the building.

Inside there were people running in every direction. The trains were packed. Once I thought I saw the man and woman but they disappeared.

I ran past platform after platform, looking for them. Finally I reached the last platform. I started to go back.

Once I was at platform eight, I sat down, exhausted. I looked at the passing people. Most of them were holding coffee cups in their hands, hurrying to work.

I stood up, not sure what I was going to do. The mysterious couple had given me something to do, somewhere to go, but now I'd lost track of them.

I started walking back to the entrance. As I was walking, I saw them! We passed right by each other. I stared into their eyes…and felt a strange jolt pass through me. I shivered, not knowing why they had this effect on me. I know they felt the same; they shivered too and their eyes widened when they saw me.

They walked past and I turned on my heel and went after them. They looked back to me, but I hid behind a tall man. I don't think they saw me. We reached platform nine and they stopped. They looked around and started walking to the barrier. They were walking fast, as though they were determined to walk through it. I became alarmed. They weren't stopping. They were walking right into –

My eyes widened. They had disappeared. It was as if they actually _had_ gone through the barrier! I ran towards it. I felt the bricks. They were solid; there was no way the couple could have walked through them. I pushed a little. My hand went through.

* * *

I had taken a chance in deciding to walk through the barrier. I don't think anyone saw me, but who knows? I saw the mysterious couple go through.

There was no reasonable explanation as to how I got through the barrier without breaking my nose. But that didn't bother me. I was taken away by the scene in front of me. A huge, scarlet train stood there, ready to leave. There was a sign above my head. It said _The Hogwarts Express._ The clock below it said 10:58.

Around me, and taking no notice of me, there were kids who looked like they were from 10-18. They were all chatting excitedly.

"I can't wait to spend New Year's at Hogwarts!" said one girl.

_What's Hogwarts?_ I thought. Suddenly something caught my eye. The couple was boarding the train, obviously trying to remain unnoticed. I did the same. It wasn't hard, since I was so small.

The train was really nice. There were kids in every compartment.

I heard a loud _ding!_ I almost fell down, because the train had started moving.

I walked down the hall way and found a door marked "wizards". I scoffed at this and pushed it open.

The bathroom was HUGE. There were changing rooms, stalls, sinks, and counters. I had no idea how this bathroom could fit on the train. It seemed impossible. Then again, I had just walked through a brick wall….

I entered one of the stalls. The prospect of sitting on a toilet for who knows how long, didn't really appeal to me. Besides, someone might need it.

I walked out of the stall and went instead into a changing room. Amazingly, there were chairs and coat hangers. I sat down on the surprisingly comfortable chair, and prepared for a long ride.

* * *

I had fallen asleep. The dream I was having was familiar, yet very different.

**Dreamland….**

_I was in a house. It was a nice house. A very…"family" type of house. I could hear a man shouting from behind a door. I moved towards it and it fell down in front of me._

_I saw a red haired woman running up the stairs, holding something in her arms. There was a black-haired man in front of me._

"_Mr. Potter," I said. My voice sounded scary. Chilling and cruel. "Step aside."_

"_No! You won't hurt Lily or Harry. I won't let you!" The man screamed. He said something and a light came out of a stick he was holding. A wand, it looked like. I laughed as the light faded when it hit me._

"_It's too bad you're so stubborn. On the one hand, it got you your wife. But it also lost you your life. Goodbye, Mr. Potter. Avada Kedavra!" _

"_No!" shouted the man. He dodged the curse and it hit a jar on the counter instead. The glass shattered and I growled._

"_Crucio!" I said. The man fell on the floor, writhing in pain and screaming. Soon I lifted the curse. The man stood up, panting heavily._

"_Crucio!" he shouted in turn. It hit me but all I felt was a little shock._

"_I must admit, you put up a good fight, Mr. Potter," I heard myself say. "However, as much as I'd love to stay here and duel properly, I really have no more time to waste. Avada Kedavra."__He fell to the floor, eyes wide. I heard sobbing from upstairs. I started up them._

_A door slammed upstairs. When I reached it, I opened it. The red haired woman stood there._

"_Mrs. Potter," I said. "Please, move aside."_

"_No! Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything -" _

"_Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!" I shouted. _

"_No! I'll never let you have him!" My heart went out to her. But for some reason, I still wanted to cause her pain. I wanted to kill her and her baby, even though, somehow, I knew it was me. Was I inside someone else's body? I was telling her she would be spared; but I knew I would kill her no matter if she stepped aside or not._

"_You are stubborn as well. Do you want to end up like your husband? Like this?" I said and waved my own wand. A picture of the man, lying dead on the floor, appeared. She started crying again. So did her baby._

"_Now, let me have him!"_

"_No! No matter what you do or say, I will not let you kill my son!" I felt angry. But I was sad. I was fighting against the emotions of another human's whose body I was in. It's hard to explain. _

_I raised my wand, involuntarily. I knew she was about to die; I wanted it, but I didn't. I couldn't do anything about it, though; I had no control over my body. The body I was in, I mean. _

"Avada Kedavra!" _I shouted. She fell on the floor, like her husband. I walked to the crying baby. I shouted the curse again. But he didn't die. No. I died._

**Leaving dreamland….**

I woke with a jolt as someone rapped on the door.

"Is someone in there?"

"Yeah!" I called weakly. I heard the person going away to find a different changing room.

I had just seen my parents' deaths. All in one dream. Only this time, it was worse. Much worse. Because I was their killer.


	5. Back home

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

We ran for a bit, not too far. We could still hear the Aurors in the maximum security wing.

"They're not here! Where are the dementors? Somebody must have gotten rid of them! Ask the prisoners!"

"But sir-"

"Do it!"

Next, we heard shouting.

"Froider! Froider, have you seen anyone here?"

They got no answer from whoever Froider was.

"Froider!"

Suddenly we heard a loud crash.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! I'M ROTTING AWAY IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLACE! I DON'T DESERVE IT! NOBODY DESERVES IT! LET ME OUT! YOU MONSTERS! LET ME OUT!"

"Come on," I said to Lily.

"Wait," she said.

"All right, Black, I'm going to ask you something. Answer me truthfully," said an auror.

Sirius grunted.

"Have you seen any people run by in here?"

"No," said Sirius.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"There's no chance you're lying to me?"

"I DIDN'T SEE ANYONE!" shouted Sirius. "EXCEPT YOU – YOU HORRIBLE PEOPLE, RUNNING BY, SEARCHING FOR PROBABLY INNOCENT VICTIMS!"

"Er, _victims_, Black?"

"YES, VICTIMS! HALF THE PEOPLE IN THIS PRISON – THIS WING AT LEAST – AREN'T GUILTY! THEY WERE CONVICTED JUST BECAUSE ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTED TOWARDS THEM, NOT BECAUSE THEY REALLY WERE GUILTY AND _FOUND_ GUILTY IN A TRIAL!"

"Calm down, Black. I can assure you, all of the people in this prison – in this wing _especially_ – are guilty. You, as well," said the auror icily.

"I can't believe I ever wanted to work with you!" said Sirius, in a slightly quieter tone. "You all betrayed me! Sent me here to die! I can't believe any of you can show your faces here anymore! Half of these people had called you their friends and depended on you to help uncover the truth! But all you did was lock us up forever and just sit back on your chair eating your TV dinners, later that night! You don't care do you? You honestly don't care that people who used to be your friends are now rotting away in cells no bigger than your closet!"

"QUIET, BLACK!" roared the auror.

"No! I will not be quiet! You killed us! You basically killed every single person that you stuffed in this hell hole! How does that feel?"

"YOU WANTED TO DO THIS SAME JOB!"

"YEAH, BUT I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE PRISONERS FAIR TRIALS AND MADE SURE _EVERY SINGLE _PERSON I PUT IN HERE WAS GUILTY!"

"I DID DO THAT! IT'S YOUR FAULT YOU LOST THIS JOB AND GOT STUFFED IN HERE YOURSELF WHEN YOU SLIPPED UP AND SOLD THE POTTERS TO THE DARK LORD!"

I was vaguely aware of Lily grabbing me to keep me from running back there. Sirius completely lost it as well. We heard a choking sound and couldn't stop ourselves. We ran over to see what was going on. Sirius had his arm through the bars and his hand closed around the auror's neck.

"Black! Let him down!" shouted another auror as he flew over, wand at the ready.

Sirius didn't listen. The auror swished his wand.

"_Stupefy!"_ he shouted. Sirius fell to the ground, unconscious. The auror he had been holding fell also, rubbing his neck.

"Thanks," he choked out. "I don't know what he does in here – he's got iron hard muscles."

"Come on," Lily muttered to me. I wouldn't move. I wanted to wait until all of the aurors were gone and save Sirius.

"I can't," I whispered.

"James, we have to go. Do you want to end up in Azkaban?"

"No," I mumbled.

"Then let's go."

"We'll find a way to help Sirius. I know we will," I said as we crept out.

Lily remained quiet.

"I need to talk to you about that," she said finally. "But let's get out of here first."

I didn't question her, but I had a bad feeling about this. I hoped she didn't still think Sirius was guilty, after all he'd told us.

We cast a spell that made us blend into our surroundings so people could only see us if they knew where to look and concentrated hard enough.

We made our way outside easily enough. The only problem then, it seemed, was getting off the island. That was solved, however, when we saw the abandoned boats of the aurors. They had sent almost everyone inside – only two people were guarding outside.

We stunned them from behind and got into the boats. As soon as we were a safe distance from the shore, I turned to Lily.

"What did you need to talk about?" I asked.

"James, I'm not sure if we want to help Sirius out."

"WHAT?"

"Well, I mean, he seemed a little – please don't get mad when I say this but, - crazy."

I stared at her.

"Crazy. You mean like mentally insane as a condition, not like his usual self?"

"Yes."

"But the story! It all made sense!"

"I know, I believe the story. But when he burst out at that auror…."

"Lily! He's been in Azkaban for _six years_! Of course he'd have a lot of pent up anger at the people who put him in there!"

"Well, I don't know, I-"

"Lily, I can't believe you!"

"James, as you pointed out, he has been in Azkaban for six years! No one lasts a week in there in a cell, especially maximum security, without going insane!"

"Well, Sirius has!"

"Yeah, because he's just so smart and talented!" said Lily sarcastically.

"Lily, there's a first for everything!"

"I don't think Sirius would be the first to stay sane in Azkaban!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I shouted.

"You know what it means!"

"How dare you? How dare you insult my best friend like this?"

"I just don't think it's such a great idea, meeting him in a deserted area," said Lily quietly.

"Well I do! Besides where else would we meet him?"

"Hopefully nowhere," she mumbled.

"You know what? That's enough! I'm going to meet him! You don't have to, I don't care! Once we reach shore, we can go our separate ways and you'll just try and sort out your life by yourself."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

We continued rowing in silence. I was fuming. How dare she insult Sirius like this? How could we _not_ save him?

We soon reached shore. I leapt out of the boat, not bothering to help Lily. She got out on her own, not waiting for me to bother.

As I turned to leave I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"James, wait," said Lily. I looked at her.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I was wrong, you were right. We should save Sirius, or at least meet him at the cottage. We need to stay together right now. Can you forgive me?"

I pretended to think about it. Of course I would forgive her. She was – is – the love of my life.

"Nice apology," I said, smirking. She knew I'd forgiven her and smiled.

"I don't like admitting I'm wrong," she said sheepishly.

"That's ok," I said and pulled her close to me. We shared a couple of kisses before remembering our situation.

"We have to go," we said at the same time. I smiled and took her hand.

"Come on," I said and we disappeared.

* * *

The next day, we found a newspaper flying around in the breeze. We got a shock when we looked at the front page. 

**SIRIUS BLACK HAS ESCAPED FROM AZKABAN!**

That's what the headlines said. The articles went on to explain that no one knew how he did it, but not to worry, they'd find him. It was only a matter of time.

According to the newspaper, Sirius had been the most guarded prisoner there.

_Black was arrested six years ago, for killing thirteen people – twelve Muggles and a wizard – with one curse._

"Peter must have been pretty pleased with himself," I said bitterly.

"Why?"

"He killed twelve people with a single curse. Something they don't teach you at Hogwarts."

"Oh."

The article went on to write more things about Sirius' case. It ended with:

_Black is extremely dangerous. If you see him on the streets, lock all doors and windows and contact the Ministry immediately._

"That's rich," I laughed half-heartedly.

"We should start off to Hogsmeade since we can't Apparate."

"Yeah. They're always monitoring who Apparates at places like Hogsmeade – especially the abandoned parts. Whoever goes there is up to no good. Wanna ride?" I asked.

"No, we can walk. I don't want to tire you out too much," said Lily.

"We'd cover more ground if I was a stag," I said.

"Yeah, but you'd get tired. Besides, we have a week."

"Yeah I guess. Hey…you know what we should do?"

"What?" asked Lily.

"Make you an Animagus!"

"Um, James?"

"Yeah?"

"We're ON THE RUN."

"Well, all we have to do is go to our old house…and sneak into the basement. I had a secret room there with all the stuff."

"Which you never told me about because…"

I shrugged.

"I forgot."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"So do you want to try?" I asked hopefully.

"Fine. But you're in charge of getting us there."

"Great!" I said and grabbed her hand.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that…" muttered Lily behind me.

I grinned.

* * *

Hours later, we were at our old house. My eyes grew moist as I remembered the last time we were there. 

"James," Lily whispered.

"What?" I asked gently. "What's the matter?"

"I'm scared. I don't want to go."

"I know, but we have to, Lily. We have to be strong."

Lily nodded.

"I'll try. But there must be people living there."

"We'll make it. I'm a Marauder!"

She smiled.

"Ok. Let's do this."

We crept up to the house. I tried the door knob. It was open.

"Crap," I said.

"What?"

"It means they're home. But we can still do this," I said.

We made our way through the house, marveling at how it had changed. I could barely remember anything.

I pushed open a white door. Lily followed me inside and gasped. I bit my lip. We were in the kitchen.

**Lily's POV**

The kitchen. This was where I had last seen James before – before I died. But it was strange – there was nothing there. Suddenly I realized. This was one of the rooms that looked like our old house. The rest of the house had been renovated…but I guess the kitchen and another room survived the attack.

"Come on," whispered James.

We walked through the house until we found the basement door. We opened it and walked inside.

The basement was warm and inviting. There was a green carpet. There were lots of things there too. There was a pool table, a foosball table, a ping pong table, and a huge TV. Not to mention the exercise machines. On one of which was a lady.

As soon as she saw us she screamed.

"Who are you?" she shouted, getting off the treadmill. James and I didn't answer; we got out of there as fast as we could. We ran up the stairs and then up the ones on the main floor as well.

Now we were on the second floor. We could hear the woman on the first floor, talking on the phone.

I picked up the phone that was on the wall next to me.

"Police! There's someone in my house! Two people, a woman and a man," said the woman.

"We'll be there as fast as we can. Try and stay away from them," said a man at the police station and hung up. The woman put down the phone. We heard her open and close a door. She was outside now.

"Let's go to the basement. Before the police come," said James.

"Wait," I said looking at a door. I was drawn to it. There was something in there and I could tell this was the second room.

"What are you doing?" hissed James.

I ignored him and opened the door. There was nothing there. At all. The room was completely empty. Just like the kitchen. There was a layer of dust over everything too. I walked over to a closet on the other side of the room and opened it. Inside there was a crib. It was charred and dusty, but still a crib. And it seemed familiar.

"Lily! We have to go!" shouted James.

"Ok!" I said. I shrank the crib and stuffed it into my pocket.

We ran down to the basement, just as the sirens started wailing. James felt along the wall.

"Aha!" he said as he felt a certain spot. He began tearing off the wall paper. In a matter of seconds, it was all off, revealing a metal door.

"Wow," I gasped. James waved his wand and the door opened.

I walked inside. There were potion bottles and cauldrons all along the sides of the room.

"Let's check the basement!" shouted someone upstairs.

James hurriedly started closing the door. He muttered a spell and the door glowed for a moment before returning to normal.

"They won't be able to hear anything in here now, but we'll still be able to hear what's going on out there," he said. "And you can only open it with magic."

I nodded and we listened.

"There's no one here. But they tore down the wall paper in this area and there's a door," said a policeman, apparently showing the woman.

"Have you opened it?" she asked.

"No, we haven't tried yet. Do we have your permission to do anything to open it?"

"No, don't break anything like the walls. They wouldn't be in there. How could two people open it if a whole police team can't?"

"All right."

We heard sounds that suggested they were trying to open the door but failing miserably.

"I'm sorry, it's welded shut."

"Well, I highly doubt they would have had time to wield it shut, so they can't be in there," said the woman.

"The only other rooms there was any disturbance are the fourth room to the right on the top floor and the room right next to the stairs," said the policeman. "There were footprints in the dust and the doors were open, even though you told us those doors are always shut and no one ever goes in there. Is there anything you think they might have wanted in there?"

"No! There's nothing in either of those room. Nothing at all."

"Why not?" asked the policeman. James and I leaned closer. We wanted to know as well.

"Well, none of my family has ever gone in there, but when we moved in the rooms got cleared out."

"Why?"

"None of us want to go in there so we asked the builders to clear the rooms out and build a new kitchen."

"Why?" said the policeman, sounding irritated.

"One person was killed in the kitchen. And two people were killed in that other room. It was a nursery," said the woman quietly.

"Is – is this the Potter house?" said the policeman suddenly.

"Yes."

"Wow," breathed the policeman.

"Wait, you would know all about it right?" said the woman, sounding excited.

"Yeah," said the policeman. "That's my job."

"Could you tell me about it? All I heard was that there were three mysterious deaths."

"Four."

"What?"

"There were four deaths."

"What do you mean? I heard there were only three bodies in the house."

"There was also a baby. He was never found."

* * *

**I'm so so so so so so so sorry for how long it's taken me to update! At first I was too lazy to update and wanted to update a lot at the same time (for a lot of different stories) and was planning to start but then my computer got completely swarmed with viruses! My dad's finally fixed it but still I've been totally swamped with tests in school and projects and homework and sports and everything. But just so everyone knows, I haven't abandoned any of my stories! I promise! Now that school's started, it's just going to take me longer to update. Although, if I had someone to change The Marauders and Lily read Harry Potter book 3 into story format for me, it would go quicker…if you're interested, let me know. ****phoenixtear19: **Harry's seven in this story 


	6. Never enough

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**I'm a horrible horrible horrible horrible horrible person! I haven't updated since who knows when and now probably nobody will want to read when I do update. I have 4 days off from school (actually 2 weeks but I went to Paris for a while woot woot) and I'm going to spend my time updating and writing, writing and updating so that I at least update every story once. I'm soooo sorry please do still read my stuff!**

I've been alternating chapters from Harry's to Lily/James' point of view but since the last chapter got all screwed up I had to change it.

The fifth and sixth chapters of this story are supposed to be what happened before chapter four. I'll make this more clear later.

* * *

"A baby?" asked the woman, sounding horrified.

"Yes, a baby boy," said the policeman. "Harry Potter was his name." Lily let out a gasp.

"That's whose files we saw!" she whispered to James. He nodded.

"Yes, but who is he?" he asked. Lily couldn't figure it out. The real answer came across each of their thoughts…but they brushed it aside. After all, they'd remember their own son, wouldn't they?

"What happened to him?" asked the woman.

"Well, no one knows really. Some say he was kidnapped. Some say he was killed."

"What happened to his parents?"

"Well, what we determined was the murderer came into the house and into the kitchen. That's where the first murder happened. We don't know how the man died…it seemed like his heart just stopped beating, even though he was perfectly healthy and in great condition. Well anyway, after the murderer committed his first act, he headed upstairs to where the mother was. Her body was found the same way as her husband's – as if her heart had stopped beating. We then determined that the murderer probably tried to kill the baby as well…but the murderer's body was found the same way as the parents' and the baby just disappeared."

They were silent for a moment.

"That is a very strange case," said the woman.

"Yes," agreed the policeman. "But there's more. The murderer had a very unusual appearance…his face was kind of stretched out and his eyes…they were red. Completely red. It was rather frightening, really."

"My God," breathed the woman. She thought for a moment. "It's kind of strange, isn't it?"

"What's that?"

"That one person died in the kitchen and two people died in the nursery…and those were the only parts of the house that remained?"

"Yes, strange," said the policeman thoughtfully.

"And you say the murderer tried to kill the baby? But when you arrived at the house, the murderer was dead…and the baby was missing?"

"Yes."

"Odd."

"It is. I still remember the crib that was in the nursery. It looked untouched. It had a very unusual appearance," said the policeman.

"Really? How?"

"Well, for one thing, it was decorated with these little golden circles that looked like balls. And then there were silver – wings coming out from the sides. Along with those, there were brooms on it too. It didn't make any sense – what kind of people had they been?"

Lily slowly pulled out the crib that was residing in her pocket. She enlarged it to its full size again. It looked exactly as the man had described.

"James…" she breathed.

"I don't know what this means, Lily," he said, answering her unasked question. "But we'll find out. I promise – we'll find out."

The next morning, the couple was finally able to leave the room. James had successfully (with a certain spell) managed to train Lily as an animagus in record time. She had turned into a beautiful tiger with a sleek orange coat, covered partially with black stripes.

"James, I love it! This is so – so cool!" she exclaimed. James smiled.

"It is, isn't it? I had the same feeling the first couple of times I transformed. But we have to get out of here now. Come on – Shh, be quiet." They silently crept out of the basement. Light was pouring through the windows of the hallway. There was no one around so Lily and James moved swiftly to the door. Lily turned the handle and opened it, exposing them to the coldness outside. A blanket of snow now covered everything.

"Hey! Hey! Who are you?" They turned and saw a man in a striped bath robe, holding a cup of coffee and a newspaper.

"Shit," Lily and James said simultaneously.

"Stop right there!" shouted the man as James moved to take a step. "Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my house?"

"Run!" James suddenly told Lily. She moved forward with a burst of speed, James coming right up next to her.

"Hey! HEY!" shouted the man. "I'm calling the police! Jen, Jen, call the police!" He looked anxiously at James and Lily's retreating forms.

"They said to do anything to keep them here!" a female voice said from inside the house.

"Anything?"

"Anything! They were here yesterday too! They must have been here overnight!"

"All right. Get me my gun!"

"Your gun?"

"Bring it to me!" A brief minute passed, and Lily and James were starting to escape view of the house. But not quickly enough. A loud bang sounded and Lily suddenly felt a sharp pain spread through her back. She stumbled and fell down with a cry.

"Lily? What - ?" James asked running back to her. Then he saw the blood spurting through her shirt. "Lily!" He knelt down to hold her as he heard a great "ha!" of triumphant laughter echo through the morning air. He turned towards the house and began sprinting violently back. He could see the man's triumphant face as he got nearer.

"Your little friend go down?" he said. James let out a roar of anger and lunged at the man. He tackled him to the ground and started punching him. The woman, Jen, started screaming. She couldn't do anything, as the police were already on their way.

"Jen – Jen! Help me!" shouted the man. Jen looked around and ran into the kitchen. She came back a minute later, brandishing a large butcher knife.

"Let him go!" she screamed at James. He looked up and saw the knife. Slowly he let go of the man on the ground and got up. His victim scrambled up too.

"Give me the knife!" said the man unpleasantly. Jen frightfully handed it over. The man advanced on James. He made to thrust it in his shoulder, but James whipped out his wand. The man stared at it.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ shouted James. The knife came sailing, handle first, into his hand. The couple stared at him, horrified.

"Who the hell are you?" said the man.

"Me? My name is James Potter. And that's my wife you just shot!" James screamed angrily. Jen's eyes widened.

"J – James and Lily Potter? I thought – I thought you were dead!"

"Yeah, we were. Things happen. _Expelliarmus!_" James said again. The man flew back against the wall and Jen screamed. Police sirens began wailing in the distance. _"Ennervate."_ The man was brought out of unconsciousness. James told them both to come close.

"What do you want?" said Jen, moving nearer. "What are you?"

"I'm a wizard," said James. _"Obliviate!" _

Seconds later, James was running back to his wife.

"Lily! Lily, I'm so sorry I left you!" he exclaimed, sliding down next to her. She smiled weakly but said nothing. "Hold on, I'll take care of this." He quickly said a spell that took the bullet out of her. She let out a gasp of pain. "I'm sorry," said James. He said a quick healing spell. Immediately the hole closed up, and Lily slowly started to regain her color.

"Thank you James," she said quietly.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah. It's all better now. What did you do to them?"

"Nothing really. Let's get out of here." He helped her up and they left the little village.

Soon, they found themselves back at the Leaky Cauldron. They had ordered drinks and were sitting at the bar. James had just paid Tom when he peered closely at them.

"Say – you look exactly like James and Lily Potter!" he exclaimed. Everyone in the pub looked around and started to form a crowd around the pair.

"That's interesting," said James, starting to pull Lily away. "We really better go now. Thanks for the drinks." They exited in a hurry, leaving the people behind them very confused.

**Lily's POV**

We walked out into the busy London street. No one gave us a second glance, but suddenly I remembered what just happened in the Leaky Cauldron.

"James," I said. "We should re-disguise ourselves." He nodded and we did so. Then we decided that the easiest way to get to Hogsmeade would be by the Hogwarts Express – it was just time for students to be going back if they were spending New Years' there.

We hailed a cab and told the driver to go to King's Cross. When we got there, we paid him and entered the busy train station. There were people everywhere, mostly holding paper cups full of steaming coffee, and carrying briefcases.

We were almost to platform 9 ¾ when I heard a loud rumbling.

"Oops. That was my stomach," said James, smiling sheepishly. I grinned.

"Yeah, we should probably eat," I said.

"Yeah, come on." We walked over to a pretzel stand and bought two. We devoured them hungrily. "Damn. I'm still hungry," said James. "But we have to go. The train will be leaving soon." He pointed at the clock which said 10:40.

"All right, let's go," I said. We were almost there when suddenly my gaze fell on a little boy who was walking in the opposite direction. He looked somewhat like James – actually, he looked exactly like what I imagined James to look like when he was the boy's age. James and I both caught the boy's eye – and I felt a jolt pass through my body. I know James and the boy felt it too; they both shivered.

We continued walking. I looked back at the boy, but he was gone. I mentally shrugged him off for the time being.

James and I finally reached platform 9 ¾. We looked around carefully and, not seeing anyone, went through. The train was as magnificent as ever – red and gleaming. We carefully snuck onto it and hid in one of the compartments. We locked the door and pulled down the curtains. Everyone would assume it was occupied by students.

"James?" I asked after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah?"

"Why did that little boy have that effect on us?"

"I have no idea."

"Also -" I bit my lip. "He looked exactly like what I imagined you would have looked like when you were about seven or eight."

"I know," said James quietly. "He did. I don't understand." We sat in silence for a bit. Soon the train whistle blew. It huffed and puffed and slowly started to move.

When I look back on it now, the answer seems so simple – but it's never really like that. Nothing is ever that simple. Your brain looks further into it than it should and it ends up making things even more complicated. But then when you try to find the simplest possibility, it's never enough. And the next time, you start to look further into it than you should again. The result is always the same – it's never enough to actually figure it out. Whether it gets too complicated, or too simplistic, it's never enough. Never enough.


End file.
